The CRPF constable who killed four colleagues in Basaguda camp in South Bastar in Chhattisgarh on December 9 was upset over his duty schedule and incidents in his personal life.
Having sustained a head injury due to a bomb blast in Jammu and Kashmir in 2011, Sanat Kumar Yadav (35) had a history of 'mood swings.' On December 9, after firing 95 rounds from two AK47 rifles, he calmly surrendered after offering prayers at the CRPF camp's temple.
According to police sources in Bastar, the constable was unhappy over the decision of his senior officer in not allowing him to go on leave to meet his mother, who was suffering from kidney failure and was reportedly on her deathbed. Back in Firozabad, his native place in Uttar Pradesh, his mother wanted all her sons to be at her bedside in the final hours of her life. Yadav was eldest of three brothers; the other two were serving in the Army.
News reports quoting his brother Hari Om, who was a lance naik in the Army, said “Sanat was under stress as our mother was critically ill from kidney failure. She wanted to meet all three sons before dying. While we two got leave, he could not.”
According to family sources, Yadav, who joined the CRPF in 2001, had even spoken to his wife Sanju Devi before committing the gruesome act. Yadav had two sons who are living in a government accommodation in Allahabad with his wife.
However, a CRPF spokesperson denied any leave issue, saying Yadav had already availed of his casual leave and there was no issue of not granting leave. The local CRPF commandant was tight-lipped over the incident, which was being investigated by police. Special Director General, Naxal Operations, D.M. Awasthi and other officials rushed to the incident spot to ascertain the causes of firing.
Awasthi said, “We have instituted an inquiry to find out the reasons.”
Meanwhile, the local police station at Basaguda registered a case under Sections 302 and 307 of the IPC. Yadav was arrested immediately after the firing. He was produced in Bijapur district court on Sunday and sent to jail. The police did not asked for his remand for any investigation.
Sources claim that after firing indiscriminately, Yadav went to the all-religion temple located inside the camp of 168 Battalion of CRPF and prayed before handing over the rifles to his senior officer, saying “please keep this, my work is done.”
According to Bastar Impact, a local newspaper, animosity between two groups in the G Company of the battalion was brewing for the last two months. The reason for the conflict among the jawans was regarding the deployment duty timings in the Naxal zone. Yadav was upset that he was picked again and again for duty.
On Saturday, after Yadav returned from his regular patrol duty around 2pm, he had an argument with his senior. In the evening around 4pm, Yadav got up from rest and picked up two AK47 rifles of sub-inspector Megh Singh and sub-inspector Vicky Sharma, who was second-in-command for the company.
Yadav then fired incessantly for 20 minutes on his colleagues resting in their barracks. He fired from close range on Sharma, a native of Kashmir, and Megh Singh, who hailed from Gujarat. After killing the two, he attacked assistant sub-inspector Rajveer Singh, a native of Rajasthan, and constable G. Sankara Rao from Andhra Pradesh. While the firing was going on, assistant sub inspector Gajanand, a resident of Haryana, accidentally stepped into the line of fire. He suffered injuries on his leg. He was later airlifted to Raipur.
While bullets from the AK47 were being fired, police constables in the adjacent Basaguda police post were playing a friendly cricket match. They thought it to be normal practice firing. It was a sentry who alerted them when bullets came flying to the post.
Yadav, while being taken to court, told local mediapersons that he had nothing to do with the incident and the firing took place between the deceased persons for some unknown reason.
This was not the first incident of a jawan killing colleagues in the Naxal area where the CRPF has been posted in major way. In January this year, at Amabeda camp in north Bastar, a CRPF jawan was killed by a colleague when they entered into an altercation.
On February 2017 a jawan of CoBRA battalion of the CRPF committed suicide. In May 2017, a jawan of 222 Battalion of CRPF committed suicide, while in September 2017, a jawan killed a CRPF platoon Commander after they had an argument.
The constant stress and distance from family has been considered to be the main culprit for these incidents, a senior police official said.
